the oracle

the second year

November 30, 2005

hypocrisy on wheels

I just realized that I'm a tailgaiting hypocrite. I hate it when people tailgate me and I try not to do it to others, but I get immense glee out of seeing someone else being tailgated. Well, not just anyone - it has to be someone that I feel deserves it, like the lady going 55 in the left lane this morning. I'm crediting her with this epiphany because she stayed in the left lane, apparently oblivious to the people passing her as quickly as they could, until a huge SUV started riding her ass. I had gotten stuck behind her for a bit until I could pass her, so seeing the SUV tailgating her made me inordinately happy. After a mile or so of this she moved into the middle lane, let the SUV pass, then moved right back into the left lane, never going faster than 55. People like that deserve tailgaiting.

Posted by oracle at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2005

for redheads, I stop on a dime

In the interest of keeping my car in one piece for as long as possible, here's some advice: If you see my brake lights flash on, it usually means that someone in front of me is stopping, so it's a good idea for you to step on your brakes too. Why? Because I'm not one of those people that leaves a gap the size of a football field between my car and the one in front of me. Just because I'll have enough room to stop safely (albeit sometimes a bit nervously) doesn't mean you'll be able to do the same if you wait until you're five feet away from my bumper to start slowing down. I am truly amazed that I made it home last night without someone rear-ending me, because it seemed like everyone was hitting their brakes at the last possible second.

PS: To the lady who thought it would be a good idea to change lanes at an intersection in bumper-to-bumper traffic - It wasn't. I didn't let you over because I didn't see you, and rolling down the window to let me know that you were trying to get over was pointless since I'd already stopped at the red light by then. If you want to change lanes, it works best if you do so before you get to the intersection where you'd like to turn. Also, if you wonder why you can't get over after a last-minute move like the one you pulled earlier, it probably has more to do with your stupidity and lack of planning than it does with that "People get so 'onry' at Christmastime" theory you spouted while you were berating me for not letting you over.

Posted by oracle at 6:32 PM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2005

I brake for brunettes, blondes, and Corvettes

And cars that swerve into my lane. Traffic came to a standstill while I was on my way in to work this morning, and as I was slowing down (and muttering angrily about traffic problems because of stupid people), I heard tires squealing. A Wrangler in the other lane was out of control, complete with smoking tires. It swerved in and out of the lane it was in, my lane, and the shoulder until its driver regained control, which, thankfully, didn't take too long. The whole thing lasted long enough for me to worry about my car (well, van in this case - my car's still out of commission, thank you, busted radiator) getting hit though, which left me with quite a bit of excess adrenaline when it was over.

Posted by oracle at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2005

tired and twitchy

I don't know if there's any connection between the two, but I'm drag-ass tired and my face is twitching. It's not twitching all over, thankfully, but my jaw muscle kicked off the tic parade almost as soon as I got to work this morning. My right eye grabbed the baton sometime before 10 and was dethroned by my left eyelid not too long after that. They've been taking turns ever since. It's very irritating.

Posted by oracle at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

November 22, 2005

car envy

Once again I remember why one of my goals is to eventually own a vehicle less than four years old. I was on my way home yesterday when my radiator decided to give up, although luckily for me, it did so less than 5 miles away from home. I know it's good to have a car that's paid off, and mine normally isn't a problem child, but the past few months have felt like nothing but back-to-back car problems. Time to call my mechanic, again. You'd think I'd have him on speed dial by now.

Posted by oracle at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2005

Troy

I'm an emotional person. No matter how much I try to remain detached, my emotions are never very far from the surface, and movies like Troy are proof of that. Brad Pitt did a surprisingly good job as Achilles, and I really liked the actor that played Hector. Paris, on the other hand, was awful. I couldn't stand him from the beginning of the movie, and nothing could've redeemed him in my eyes after he shot Achilles.

Posted by oracle at 9:53 AM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2005

food and water

I was talking to Mike last night after we'd gone to bed - just random chatter about our afternoon - and when I asked him what his favorite part of it was, his answer was "Food and water." This is why you should never try talking to him when the lights are out.

Posted by oracle at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2005

weekend lessons

Various things learned over the weekend:

• Going to see Santa at the mall can be terrifying.
• Warm chocolate cake batter is extremely tasty. Warm french vanilla batter is vile.
• If you microwave cake batter long enough, it turns into cake, and by "long enough" I mean "45 seconds." I actually discovered this a couple weekends ago when I was craving warm chocolate batter, but I forgot to write about it until now.
• A houseful of 15/16 year old boys is quieter than a smaller houseful of 13/14 year old boys.
• It is not possible to have too much pizza.
• Having your six year old tell you that the reason they think you're sad is because you "do all the work around here" is absolutely priceless.

Posted by oracle at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

November 4, 2005

you mean this isn't shampoo?

Last week I cleverly left the shampoo bottle open a little bit and got in the shower the next morning to discover that it had all leaked out onto the floor. (The bottle was getting low, so I'd started keeping it upside down to make it easier to get the shampoo out.) I spent the next few days using Mike's shampoo and then finally got around to buying some more of mine on Monday. We were in a hurry because we were taking the kids trick-or-treating later, so I went in the store, glanced at the shampoo selection, grabbed what I needed, and checked out. I looked at the bottle long enough to check that it was the right kind and to note that they'd changed up the bottle a little, so I was quite surprised the next morning when I went to wash my hair and realized that I'd grabbed conditioner instead of shampoo. Luckily, the store let me return the conditioner, but I had another "Oh, crap, I can't believe I did this again" moment the day after. Redkin apparently changed up the shampoo a bit, so instead of being clear like it used to, it's now a cloudy white - just like the conditioner. I had to double-check the bottle before I used to just to make sure I hadn't made the same mistake again.

Posted by oracle at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2005

late-night ramblings remembered

You start off sleeping on your side like you always do, but then you roll over. I love it when you do that because now I can look at your face while you sleep, not just your back. You look so relaxed and peaceful with your hand tucked under your face. In the dark it looks like a small smile is playing around your mouth. I like seeing you look like this - free from stress and pressures, at peace for once in your far too busy day. My emotions well up and overflow my heart, choke my throat, and fill my eyes. I love you with all my heart.

Posted by oracle at 6:47 AM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2005

Halloween '05

Our kids are awesome. Only H and N wanted to dress up this year, so while we were trick-or-treating with them and their mom, A and Z were busy making a dummy in the parking lot. They had it sprawled out right at the edge of some parked cars with a couple of pieces of candy strewn around the "head" to make it look like a trick-or-treater had been run over. A said that at least 10 cars had stopped in the few minutes they'd had it out there. Very creative, and absolutely hilarious.

Posted by oracle at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2005

trashcan update

We just got back from a motorcycle ride, and when we left, the neighbor's garage was open with an extra trashcan sitting there in plain sight. Bastard.

Posted by oracle at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2005

of all the days, cont.

Bif Naked would be nice too. The 30-second clips from her site just aren't cuttin' it.

Posted by oracle at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

of all the days to forget my mp3 player

I could really use some Rob Zombie and Scum of the Earth right now.

Posted by oracle at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

trashcan hi-jinx

Trash pickup in our neighborhood is on Mondays and Thursdays, and when I put the trashcan by the curb this past Monday, I had no idea what an unnecessarily dramatic mess it would result in. One of our neighbors is very rarely home and sometimes doesn't leave his trashcan out, and this Monday was one of those days. I got home and noticed that the trash guys had put our trashcan in front of his house and didn't think anything of it until the next morning. I heard a trashcan being dragged up the sidewalk and thought he was just moving it back in front of our house, but when I went to bring it in, it was gone. He'd nabbed our trash can. I went over and rang his doorbell to ask politely if he'd ended up with two trashcans, and if so, could I have ours back please. He didn't answer though, so over the next couple of days I kept checking to see if he was home so I could go over and retrieve our trashcan. I think he's a vampire or something because there never was any indication that he was home, and yet he managed to put a trashcan out this morning. I noticed it on my to work and was determined to get home early enough to nab it back. It looked like my brilliant trashcan recon plan was going to be foiled because my "quick stops" on the way home from work took two hours, but I still got home before he did. The very first thing I did was open the garage and snatch that damn trashcan back. Here's hoping that I didn't steal it back from the wrong guy.

Posted by oracle at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2005

heaven is made of garlic and cheese

Mike just brought home a whole box of cheesy bread from Jerry's for me. He's such a sweetheart.

Posted by oracle at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

at least it wasn't my fault

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of hot water, the hotter the better, which presented quite a problem yesterday and this morning since we had none.
This happened once before, when we first moved into this house, but that was just a matter of changing a timer. There's a timer installed on our hot water heater so you can set when it turns on and off, and money-saver or not, with two adults and four kids that need showers on a regular basis and generate dirty dishes and laundry daily, this just doesn't work well for us. (And that's not even factoring in the puppykins, cause the blankets from their kennel always need washing.) This time? Not quite that easy.

We found out that the hot water was gone when Z went to take a shower last night and promptly hopped back out to let us know that there was only cold water. The power had gone off earlier thanks to an early-morning thunderstorm, so Mike looked at the timer, the breaker box, and the water heater...there was nothing wrong with any of them. He made an adjustment to the timer, and we went to bed, hoping that had fixed things. It hadn't. There still wasn't any hot water when he woke up to get ready for work, so we called the power company since they have a remote shut-off box on the water heater. Lo and behold, that was problem. The inside was charred and the wires and plastic had melted together. Apparently lightning had hit the box during the storm and fried it, hence the lack of hot water. The guy from the power company replaced the box and we have hot water once again. The icing on this happy ending cake is 1) I didn't have to wait forever for the guy to show up (he was here less than two hours after I called the power company) and 2) this wasn't my fault. Yay!

Posted by oracle at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

at least it wasn't my fault

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of hot water, the hotter the better, which presented quite a problem yesterday and this morning since we had none.
This happened once before, when we first moved into this house, but that was just a matter of changing a timer. There's a timer installed on our hot water heater so you can set when it turns on and off, and money-saver or not, with two adults and four kids that need showers on a regular basis and generate dirty dishes and laundry daily, this just doesn't work well for us. (And that's not even factoring in the puppykins, cause the blankets from their kennel always need washing.) This time? Not quite that easy.

We found out that the hot water was gone when Z went to take a shower last night and promptly hopped back out to let us know that there was only cold water. The power had gone off earlier thanks to an early-morning thunderstorm, so Mike looked at the timer, the breaker box, and the water heater...there was nothing wrong with any of them. He made an adjustment to the timer, and we went to bed, hoping that had fixed things. It hadn't. There still wasn't any hot water when he woke up to get ready for work, so we called the power company since they have a remote shut-off box on the water heater. Lo and behold, that was problem. The inside was charred and the wires and plastic had melted together. Apparently lightning had hit the box during the storm and fried it, hence the lack of hot water. The guy from the power company replaced the box and we have hot water once again. The icing on this happy ending cake is 1) I didn't have to wait forever for the guy to show up (he was here less than two hours after I called the power company) and 2) this wasn't my fault. Yay!

Posted by tayker at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2005

stay away from the light

Today hasn't had the best of beginnings for me. 1) It's cold, 2) It's pouring rain, and 3) I almost died this on my way in to work. I was on the highway when a tractor trailer pulled right in front of me. No when I say "pulled right in front of me" I don't mean "signaled, waited, then moved in front of me into my lane when it was safe". No, he (or she - it was dark and I was too traumatized afterwards to take note of what the driver looked like) was on the shoulder of the road and went from there to right the fuck in front of me in all of 2 seconds. I was less than 3 feet from the back of the truck and there was a car in the lane next to me. If that car hadn't sped up the little bit that they did, giving me just enough space to swerve into their lane and manage to narrowly miss their bumper, I would've slammed into the truck and at the very least, totaled my car. Stupid fucking truck drivers.

Posted by oracle at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2005

moving slow

It's only Wednesday but it feels like this week has been going on forever. I'm sure part of it is because I've been working late, although the fact that I'm so damn tired isn't helping either. So far I've had errands to run every day after work and that just makes the days feel even more drawn-out. Bleh.

Posted by oracle at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2005

double-wide trailers and one-night stands

I turned the radio on as part of my attempt to not to fall asleep on my drive home yesterday and was rewarded with some songs that I haven't heard in very long time, all on different stations. Sammy Kershaw kicked off the retro-ish music with "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer," followed by John Michael Montomery singing "Be My Baby Tonight," Matchbox 20 with "Push," and finishing with Vertical Horizon's "Everything You Want." Actually, that's not true. The good music run ended with "Better Man," by Pearl Jam, but I don't really count that one since it usually gets played at least once a week, whereas I haven't heard the others in at least 3 years.

Posted by oracle at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)

October 9, 2005

I love myself today

Last night I remembered that Bif Naked's new album, Superbeautifulmonster, is finally out so I bought it. Had to get it online though, so it won't actually be in my grubby little paws for a couple weeks. I'm not thrilled about that because 1) I've been waiting for another Bif Naked album since I got Purge for my birthday 4 years ago, and 2) there are clips of all the songs up on her website, and they all sound good. I was surprised to hear that she's done a remake of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", but it sounds good from the 45 second clip I heard. As it stands right now, my favorite song is "Funeral of a Good Grrl" but that just barely wins out over "Everyday" and "Abandonment". I also bought her Entirely Naked album, which comes with a DVD of her music videos. Mike is going to be tired of her when those cds get here.

Posted by oracle at 6:19 PM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2005

FU follow-up

Writing about FU earlier this week got me all nostalgic, so I went to their site and started reading through the guestbook. Someone had posted a question about getting copies of the new album, and the band responded that all you had to do was give them an email address. I figured it couldn't hurt anything to try, so I did, and soon after that, I got an email. The end result is, I'm getting a copy of Free Thursdays. This makes me unspeakably happy.

Posted by oracle at 6:37 PM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2005

change of plans

Things have changed around here lately schedule-wise, so any extra time I get to spend with Mike is welcomed. He'd hurt his foot over the weekend, which sucked because he was in pain, but was nice because I stayed home with him and we got to spend time together. We were planning on doing the same thing today until he was called in to work in spite of his hurt foot. He wasn't at the point where he could drive comfortably yet, so I drove him to work and then spent the day hanging out in the area until it was time for him to leave. It was a pretty fun day, although I missed being able to just hang out with him at home.

Posted by oracle at 9:22 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005

I need to straighten up my mental health

Someone said something about mental health days, and now I've got the Folded Under song going through my head. I'm still bummed they're breaking up. Even though I haven't seen them play in a while (maybe a year?), they're still one of my favorite local bands. I first saw them in the summer of 2001 with my then-boyfriend. His old roommate (I think they were roommates, but they may just have had apartments next to each other...I'm not sure.) was the new drummer for FU, so we went to see them play at Mary Wash one night. Several months after that, the then-boyfriend and I had broken up and I wasn't doing so well. Part of my plan to get back to normal was to go out more, so when I saw that FU was going to be playing at a bar I liked, I decided to go to the show. I ended up buying their cd and a couple of stickers, and pretty soon after that, I was at every show I could make it to. One of the guitarists was also a manager at that bar, so even when they weren't playing, I could still count on seeing some of the band on the weekends. I spent the rest of 2002 and part of 2003 going to see their shows and hanging out at what I considered "my bar", but that started tapered off after a while. I went back to school in the fall of '03 and started dating Mike around the same time, and I found myself wanting to go out less and less. At some point I heard that they were working on a second album which I was really looking forward to hearing, so I was surprised and disappointed to learn that they were breaking up at the beginning of this year. I've gone from being someone who used to plan my weekend around their shows to someone who remembers them once in a while when a song goes through my head.

Posted by oracle at 1:57 PM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2005

warm fuzzies: the finale'

This choked me up. I wasn't expecting the notes or the phone calls, but the entry really blew me away.

It was funny this morning because I called him when I found the first note, then I found the other notes and the text message one by one as I was getting ready for work. The last note was waiting for me on the dashboard of my car and I figured that was it...until I got to work and found the voicemail waiting for me. When I left work, he slowed down and waited until I caught up to him on the highway, and we stayed like that all the way home, talking on the phone to each other. He kept telling me that the day wasn't over, but I'd forgotten about that by the time we got home and I got on the internet. Seeing this made my day even better than everything in the morning did. I have the best fiance ever. Seriously, he's awesome.

Posted by oracle at 3:07 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2005

get your dead on...

...white trash devil girl. I'm currently rocking a couple Scum of the Earth songs (among other things) right now, and every time I hear them I remember how much I like the group. SOTE is Rob Zombie's guitarist, Riggs, bassist Clay Others, former Powerman 5000 guitarist Mike Tempesta, and drummer John Dolmayan. I'm a pretty big Rob Zombie and PM5K fan, and yet I didn't hear about this band until Mikeand I heard them on XM. One of my favortie tracks on the album is, shockingly, Get Your Dead On, followed closely by Pornstarchampion. When I begin my career as a stripper, those two are definitely songs I'm going to include in my routine.

Posted by oracle at 6:48 PM | Comments (0)

warm fuzzies: part deux

Today I had a voicemail waiting for me at work. That went a long way towards improving my morning. Mike's the best. I <3 you, honey.

Posted by oracle at 4:50 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2005

warm fuzzies

Seeing this made my morning a whole lot better. That, yesterday's text message, and Monday's touching wake-up call really have made this wonderful week. Thank you, sweetie.

Posted by oracle at 6:07 AM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2005

yzf-600r

We took the bike on our first really long trip today, and it was a blast. Well, aside from that one moment where I was sure we were going to die and was trying to figure out what the best way to jump off the bike would be. Everything before and after that was great.

Posted by oracle at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2005

bugsy

Apparently I was pretty shitty to roaches in a former life, because I was attacked by two of them in less than 30 minutes last night. The first time happened when I was leaning up against the house, waiting for the puppies to do their thing. I heard a rattling sound, then something dropped on my neck and started flapping around. I jumped about 20 feet away from the side of the house, flailed around a bit, then finally calmed down when I realized I couldn't feel it on me anymore. The second incident was shortly after that. I walked outside, again with the puppies, and a roach landed on my arm. There was an instant repeat of the jumping away, flailing around, and finally calming down. It could've been worse, but still wouldn't make any of my top ten lists.

Posted by oracle at 8:04 AM | Comments (0)

September 8, 2005

I like big butts and I cannot lie

It amazes me that some people can't accept even a small act of kindness. When someone is nice to them, or does something nice for them, they lash out in response. What kind of sense does that make? I'm not talking about being condescending either, 'cause that's annoying as hell - I'm just talking about plain old courtesy and consideration. Why is that too much for some people to handle?

Posted by oracle at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

September 1, 2005

the triple gem

I'm currently reading The Triple Gem, and as I was reading it earlier, a couple of things practically jumped off the page at me. They were all worth thinking about, but this is the one that had the most impact on me: If you offer someone food and hospitality, but they don't take it, the food and hospitality remain with you. So it is with anger and abuse. If you do not accept it from the person spewing it, then it remains only with them.

Posted by oracle at 6:07 AM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2005

holy mist, Batman

I woke up super early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I made Mike coffee and all that good stuff, and when I walked him to the door, the morning was nice and clear. However, when I went out the door a couple hours later, I couldn't even see past the end of the driveway. I slowly made my way out of our subdivision and onto the main road, where I promptly discovered that some people around here don't think that a solid blanket of fog is something they should turn their headlights on for. Normally I don't wish bad things on people, but if I were to start, it would begin with people like them. I mean, if I can barely see past the hood of my car, then I know they're in the same boat, but instead of being safe and helping other people see them, they're fucking clueless. And yet when they get in a wreck because of that cluelessness, they'll blame everyone but themselves. Ignorant bastards.

Posted by oracle at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2005

lazy Thursday

We've finally finished the move (except for one more truckload, which we'll be getting tomorrow), the unpacking is halfway completed, and I've still got an endless amount of laundry to do. Who knew 6 people generated so many dirty clothes? However, instead of rabidly doing the laundry, I'm sitting here at the computer, listening to Mike record a couple of the new songs he came up with, and thinking about the past week. Life is pretty damn good.

Posted by oracle at 8:31 PM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2005

permits all 'round

Both Mike and A passed written learner's permit tests today - A retook the test for the driver's license learner's, and Mike took the motorcycle learner's permit. He wasn't expecting to pass since he'd just gotten the booklet and started studying this morning, but he did. Neither of them is acting too excited about it, but I think I'm jazzed enough for all of us.

Posted by oracle at 1:33 PM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2005

contradictions

drowning every time I take a breath, but there's no water to be found
surrounded by the fog, blinded by the light
sweat drips past the goosebumps on my arms
freezing, shivering as I sit in the summer sun,
alone, forgotten, while surrounded by people on all sides
precious, treasured, yet worthless all the while

Posted by oracle at 7:38 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2005

I, me, I

I think only of my emotions and lash out
I open my mouth and fuck things up more
I speak my mind and reveal my selfishness
When will I learn that sometimes it's okay to just listen?
When will I learn that it's not all about me?

Posted by oracle at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2005

suffocating

My comments are stupid,
my thoughts a waste of time,
my words another pillow when you're already suffocating.
I'm sorry you're not happy,
I'm sorry you're so mad.
And I'm sorry I couldn't understand what you needed me to.

Posted by oracle at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2005

six already?

H turned six today, and I've gotta say, it doesn't seem like it's been a full year since she turned five. I know she's getting older - the growth spurt she's in the middle of makes that hard to ignore - but it just doesn't seem like that much time has passed. It's great to watch her grow though. Last year she could read some words on her own, but not a lot; now she's reading everything she sees...on her own. She still gets stuck on some words, but I love hearing her sound things out and put them together. All the kids are incredibly bright, but she's the only one I've been present for at this particular stage, and it's just awesome. Next up is summer vacation and after that there's first grade for her, N's first year at junior high, and driving for A. It looks like we're going to have a busy fall.

Posted by oracle at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)

more tea?

H's birthday was today, but we had a tea party for her birthday yesterday. I was pretty stressed about how things would turn out, but everything went well and she and her friends seemed to have a great time, so I'm calling it a success. I have a fuckload of laundry calling my name, so I'll have to throw up some pictures and more details later in the week.

Posted by oracle at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)

June 8, 2005

Ms. Wolfie

Emily Ann was born today, checking in at 19 inches and 6 some-odd ounces, and as excited as I am, you'd think I was the one who'd just given birth instead of just being her aunt. A big congratulations to Wolfie and Mrs. Wolfie, and an even bigger welcome to Emily.

Posted by oracle at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2005

Arkham escapees, part deux

Did you know that if you stop and look at someone, you're a cunt? I didn't until last night. Our crazy neighbors have been peering out their front windows at me since the day I moved in, and it's only gotten worse since Mike and the kids moved in last year. Today I'd finally had enough and decided to stop on my way to the mailbox and look back. Turns out they don't like that much. The woman is the main window-peerer and, per usual, she was on watch today too. At first she twitched the curtains, then she moved away from the window only to come right back to see if I was still there. When she saw that I was, she flipped the fuck out. She threw open the front door and came out on the porch yelling at me. I had a hard time understanding her, but the gist of what I could make out was that I shouldn't be looking at her, she wasn't doing anything, leave her alone. Now, it's not like I was on her porch with my nose pressed to the window - I was on the sidewalk with the puppies, a good distance away from her. That didn't make a difference though. Finally she got tired of yelling at me and stormed inside. I thought it was all over then, but about 45 minutes or so later, I heard something in the back room while I was getting ready to let the puppies out. I couldn't figure out what it was, so I went ahead and let them out, and as soon as I opened the door, I realized that what I had heard was her talking to herself. In their backyard. The only words I heard clearly were 'cunt' and 'not doing anything' but since she didn't stop yelling to herself for another half hour, I think it's safe to say that she was pretty upset.

Posted by oracle at 6:40 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2005

shoot me, stuff me, mount me

I've had a headache for over a week now, and while it's given me the occasional break here and there, they're never more than a couple of hours long, which is getting really old. It's not good when guillotines start looking appealing.

In other news, N's birthday party was this weekend. He had three friends over for pizza, gaming, etc., and when I got up at 2 something to take the puppykins out, they were still up, hands fused to the Xbox controllers, so I guess everybody had a good time. Now it's time to start planning H's party for next month.

Posted by oracle at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2005

wha...

What was up with Gilmore Girls on Tuesday? I watched the TiVo'd ep last night, and I'm a little disappointed. The Lorelai/baby thing was much less of a big deal than the previews made it out to be - half of the preview time was dedicated to the preganancy scare, then on the show it got practically no buildup at all. Rory acted like a brat to Logan, which would be bad under any circumstances, but given that Logan is my current tv boyfriend, it's just inexcuseable. So his dad doesn't think she's got what it takes to be a journalist. That's not a reason to bitch at Logan. Lorelai just started talking to Emily again at last week's incredibly awkward Friday night dinner, but now they're on friendly(ish) terms again? Eating marshmallows at dinner? And I can't stand the way Lorelai handled the magazine article about her mom. She should've just told her before handing the article and letting her get blindsided like that. I hatehatehate Kirk when he's only got a minor part in an episode, so ones where he's part of one of the main plots really make me grind my teeth. Btw, what the hell is the deal with his deformed body in that ep? His nipples are, like, 3 inches apart, which leaves an unnaturally large space between each nipple and armpit. That horrible chest combined with his strange, 5-month pregnant belly was too much for my poor eyes to take. If next week's offering doesn't hold up to the potential hinted at by the previews, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

PS: Sookie informing Jackson that he was going to get snipped a mere seconds before a nurse hulked up to take him away? Is fucked up. That's the kind of thing you talk about before you get to the hospital.

Posted by oracle at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2005

Sars

Sars + bad mood = girl's on a roll. I <3 her.

Posted by oracle at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)

slow motion

I'm fucking exhausted today, but I can't really complain about it because it's my own stupid fault. I didn't stop playing Psychonauts until after 9:30 last night, and then was too wound up to go to sleep so I ended up reading until 10:17. Not my smartest move ever, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I do wish the day would go by a little quicker though...

Posted by oracle at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2005

good news = good mood

I got a phone call yesterday letting me know that my background check was completed, and that I could start my new job next Monday, the day after Memorial Day, or June 13th. Although I'd love to start on Monday, that's not fair to my old job, so my last day at this job is going to be the 27th. I'm beyond jazzed.

Posted by oracle at 9:49 AM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2005

Mother's Day '05

The highlight of my day was hearing "Happy Mother's Day" from H as soon as she got on the phone. Turns out kids are good at the heart-melty stuff. Who knew?

Posted by oracle at 8:43 PM | Comments (0)

May 4, 2005

you're all I want

You ask questions, but don't believe my replies,
letting your doubts take the reins.
Perceived inconsistencies dredge up insecurities from before -
questions about truth and love and faith.
Feeling inadequate I respond, but my words fall short,
you hear them through the filter of doubt.
What makes you doubt me so?
What reason is there for the supposed deceit?
Why is it so hard to believe that all I want is you?

Posted by oracle at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2005

we interrupt this program for a special bulletin:

If you are one of these people, stay out of Dr. No's way. He's pissed, and it's one of the funniest things I've read this week.

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by oracle at 6:45 AM | Comments (0)

lost to nothing

It feels like I'm losing you, but not to another woman or a job;
I'm losing you to nothing as you change to make me happy.
I watch as you slowly fade away
day by day more of you is erased.
At first you were behind glass - visible, but out of reach;
now you're a ghost, a shadow on the wall.

I feel your touch, see your smile, but it's not you behind them anymore -
your laugh, your eyes, your songs,
yet not your heart behind them.
It's just a matter of time before you vanish completely,
sand slipping through my fingers,
smoke drifting away on the wind,
and I've lost you
to nothing

Posted by oracle at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2005

smile like you mean it

Why is it that time isn't consistent? Some parts of a day can go by before I finish blinking while other parts make seconds seem like hours, and I don't understand why. At first I thought it had something to do with being bored - that if I didn't have anything to do, time would seem to go by slower. That turned out not to be the case though; I can be in the middle of a project and time still seems to crawl by like a sloth, although if I can figure out how this works, it can actually be used to make the workday better. The Monday morning meetings would start flying by, but the moments I enjoy will feel like they stretch out endlessly. I'm pretty sure that would make it a bit easier to come in to work, don't you?

Posted by oracle at 7:29 AM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2005

in between dreams

While I was walking to the metro this afternoon, a lady was asking people if they wanted to take a free stress test. When she got to me, I just shook my head and kept walking, chuckling because I have a stress test of my own. It varies somewhat, but the mental dialogue usually goes something like this: Tight neck? Check. Tension headache? Check. Shoulder pain? Check. Yep, looks like I'm stressed. Once I've determined whether or not I'm stressed, the next step is to figure out why. That one always begins with "Am I at work?" If the answer to that is 'yes,' then I need go no further with the questions. However, if the answer is 'no,' the questionnaire continues, usually with the time-saving "Well, where am I then?" If I'm on the train/metro, that instantly explains my current stress level; if I'm at home, the next step is to figure out why I'm stressed when I should be relaxing and decompressing. And to think I used to believe that stress wasn't something you had to think about.

Posted by oracle at 5:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2005

let me

It's been a hard day, baby, so come here to me
let me wrap you in my arms and hold you close.
Let me kiss away your frustrations,
watch the tension slip away,
let me try to make it better tonight.

Posted by oracle at 9:06 PM | Comments (0)

April 8, 2005

sing the sorrow

I bought AFI's Sing the Sorrow album when it came out in 2003, and was quickly addicted to the songs "Girl's Not Grey" and "The Leaving Song, Part 2". I half-heartedly listened to the rest of the album, but didn't enjoy it much because I wasn't really given the other songs a chance. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was scrolling through my music library; I noticed AFI, decided to give them another listen, and was amazed that I didn't fall in love with the album when I first bought it. There's a grand total of one song on it that I'm not too crazy about, and even that one's not bad, just not one I'm likely to put on repeat play. "The Leaving Song" is my current favorite track because the music is so gripping. The melody is fluid, a bit melancholy, but kind of sweet at the same time. Normally I'll pick up the lyrics to a song by the third or fourth time I've listened to it, but not this one. I've been paying so much attention to the music that I only have a vague idea of what they're singing. I'm such a girl sometimes.

Posted by oracle at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

ewwwwww

While I was walking to get a bagel this morning, I passed a guy in his mid-to-late 60's, early 70's, and apparently he liked what he saw because he gave me a huge wink as he went by with what appeared to be his wife and daughter following behind him. Now, while there may be girls who dig guys three times their age winking at them, I am not one of them, so I thought it was pretty damn creepy.

Posted by oracle at 7:17 AM | Comments (0)

April 7, 2005

zesty popcorn, baby

I went to Wal-Mart to buy cereal and milk last night, and in my wanderings throughout the grocery section, stumbled across this gem:
I don't know if you've ever tried this stuff, but it is awesome. My favorite kind of popcorn, in fact, not that that matters. It's buttery, but spicy too, which makes for an awesome combination. It does make my nose run, but I think that's because I'm such a pussy when it comes to spices and all things spicy.

Posted by oracle at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

staff retreat

The branch's Admin Staff (that's just me, Supervisor, and BofC, now that 007 has left) went on our annual retreat today. We were supposed to go on Tuesday, but BofC called in, so we postponed it to today. We went to a convention of sorts nearby, and had a surprisingly good time. I entered in several contests (one for an Xbox, a PSP, some MP3 player that I can't remember the name of, a desktop scanner, and two different ones for iPods), got tons of freebies and candy (Hershey's caramel kisses and hugs, yay), and got a free flash drive. BofC won it, but she didn't want it, so she gave it to me. We walked around for a while, during which time I ran into Hot Karl, then decided it was time for lunch. We thought about Fuddruckers, Hooters, Chipotle', and others, but decided on...McDonalds. Very high class, yes? At any rate, we had a good lunch, and had did some talking about work, specifically what Supervisor's plans were to try to help raise morale. She's very results-oriented, which is just one of the reasons she's the best boss I've ever worked with. It also helped to find out that she isn't too fond of her job and was also recently at a point where she didn't care about coming in anymore. Regardless of that, though, she did, and made some very good points about how to not let the job/stress/frustration/etc. get to you. I wasn't looking forward to this retreat, but I'm glad I went after all, although my feet aren't too happy about it.

Posted by oracle at 5:51 PM | Comments (0)

April 4, 2005

you win some, you lose some

This "spring forward" business can kiss my ass. While I enjoyed the sunlight hanging around till 7:30 or so last night, getting up at what felt like 3 this morning absolutely sucked. Also, I was getting rather fond of seeing daylight when I walked into my building each morning; now that it's dark again when I go in, it feels more like the wee hours of the morning (which it is), and I really don't need any more reminders of that, thankyouverymuch.

Posted by oracle at 6:41 AM | Comments (0)

April 1, 2005

tuckfards and cupidstunts*

Yesterday I took the Metro to meet Mikeafter work and encountered a tidal wave of fuckwits along the way, all obnoxious in their own individual ways, almost unbelievably so in some cases. The deluge began with the three elderly people slowly hobbling their way down the stairs, completely blocking said stairs and preventing anyone from passing by, and continued with the lady who gave me a flat tire on the escalator, then had the nerve to give me a shitty look when I turned around to look (read: glare) at her. Two little, withered old ladies completely took me by surprise when they pushed in front of me on the platform, then managed to surprise me again when they almost ran me over trying to get to "[their] seats before anyone [stole] them". The guy videotaping the Metro experience as he got on the train received no slack from me whatsoever. It's just a metro - it's not that fascinating. The fat guy firmly planted on the left side of the escalator (completely oblivious to the ever-growing line of people behind him that wanted to walk down) should have taken a lesson from the kid behind him. I mean, if a kid that is 9 years old at most knows to move himself and his baggage over to the right and let people pass, then you, someone a good 10 years his senior, should know this too. Several other people earned a nod for their stupidity, but since I've lost that lovin' feeling and don't feel like writing any more today, their stories will go untold for now.

* thanks to Hot Karl for introducing me to the above terms

Posted by oracle at 7:35 AM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2005

more hoops to jump through

Got a call back from someone at the new job, and it turns out that I have yet another test/assessment to take before getting the job. I have no idea what this one is going to involve, but I do know that I'll be very grateful when this whole process is over and I can start my new job.

Posted by oracle at 6:58 AM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2005

all in

enough said.

Posted by oracle at 7:27 PM | Comments (0)

bring back that lovin' feeling

Over the past couple of weeks I've completely lost my urge to blog, and on the few occasions I've thought about it, I mentally shrug and move on without so much as logging in. I guess this is just one more of the many enjoyable side effects of burnout.

Posted by oracle at 8:04 AM | Comments (1)

March 23, 2005

blah, blah, bored, blah

I have no motivation whatsoever. I don't want to work, I don't want to write, I just want to go home, grab a book, and curl under the covers with the puppykins.

Posted by oracle at 2:00 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2005

interims

This entry is solely a shoutout to the kids. Interims came out yesterday, and the results were good overall, especially A's. He's made outstanding progress - really applied himself this quarter, and his grades reflect that. I'm so proud!

Posted by oracle at 7:37 AM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2005

overflow

Wow. I'm in rough shape today. I knew I was tired, but didn't realize just how bad it was until I almost poured water into my bottle without taking the cap off first. Only 4.5 hours left...

Posted by oracle at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

creative nomad jukebox zen xtra

For the past two days I've brought my mp3 player in to work with me, and I love it more now than I ever did before. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy listening to music, so yesterday I listened to Bif Naked, Josh Groban, and New Found Glory. Mikeand I listened to some AC/DC and Simple Plan on the way in this morning, and I kept up the Simple Plan trend until the battery died, leaving me music-less for the rest of the day. Oddly enough, the battery waited to shut down until I started typing this entry. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

Posted by oracle at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

March 9, 2005

in which our heroine has an epiphany

I didn't think today was going to hit "decent" by any stretch of the imagination, much less make it to "good," but I'm having a great day. I'm wearing my favorite Banana Republic pants and a sweater of Mike's (it smells like him, so I keep sniffing it periodically), and I've been in a fantastic mood all morning. I have physical therapy tonight, which I'm actually looking forward to. Yeah, I have to do some exercises, but having a heat pack on my neck followed by a massage? As far as I'm concerned, that's a great way to de-stress from work.

The epiphany mentioned in the title occurred when Mike commented that focusing on making myself happy wasn't selfish. There are several things that are taking away from my happiness right now, so I'm going to be working on changing or eliminating those. It seems simple now that all the pieces have clicked into place, but until he said that, being happy wasn't a goal of mine. It was something I wanted, but never put more thought into it than that, so his comment and observations were exactly what I needed.

Posted by oracle at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 8, 2005

a rainy day in the city

It was raining when I woke up today, and has been doing so steadily ever since. I love the rain, as long as there's nowhere I need to go and I can sit inside, watching and listening to it. Eventually the watching gets old and I move on to something else, but it's still nice to hear it in the background. Days like this are also nice to stay at home and snuggle in bed with Mike and the puppykins, but as nice as it is to think about staying home today, we had to come in to work, and it's going to be another late day for us.

Posted by oracle at 7:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 7, 2005

as years go by, I race the clock with you

Added a link to my writings page and working on linking to my pictures, but Mozilla is not my friend tonight, so that may take a bit.

Posted by oracle at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)

tears

Tears drip down my face
and mingle with my running nose.
Why can't I be pretty when I cry?

Raw emotion escapes
in spite of my attempts to hold it back.
I hate the weakness it shows,
yet welcome the relief it brings in its wake.

Posted by oracle at 9:46 PM | Comments (0)

impact

On the way home Friday, the truck was in its first accident. Mike has a thing about his trucks getting rear-ended (you can read about it here), and this just confirmed that for him. He picked me up at work at our normal time and drove until we hit traffic in the HOV lanes, at which point we switched spots so he could take a nap while I drove. Unfortunately, this switch meant I was the one driving when the accident happened. We were stopped at a red light, and I moved forward to see if I could turn right on the red. There was traffic coming from the opposite direction though, so I stopped to wait until they had passed, and about 20 seconds after I had stopped, a car slammed into us from behind. We turned into the parking lot of a nearby restaurant, and Mike checked the truck for damage while I exchanged information with the other driver. She was very nonchalant about it, but her two daughters were with her, and one of them was very upset. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and there was no damage that we could see to the truck at all. That wasn't the case for her car though; the entire front end was crumpled. I still don't completely understand the woman's reason for why she wasn't paying attention, although it doesn't really matter because it all comes down to her not paying attention. That's not a good way to drive, period, but especially not with your kids in the car. I'm just glad ours weren't with us when this happened.

Posted by oracle at 9:30 AM | Comments (1)

March 4, 2005

at a loss

There's so much going through my mind right now, but I can't put it all into words. It's very frustrating because I want to, and normally I'm pretty good at expressing myself, but today I'm not.

Posted by oracle at 6:35 AM | Comments (1)

March 3, 2005

long days, short nights

Yesterday was a long day for us, although it didn't feel like it. Mike needed to work late, so I stayed at work till 4:30 and then left to meet him at his clients' office. As soon as I got there, we went back out to get dinner at a nearby pizza and sub place. It turns out that they offer free delivery, which will come in handy next time we want subs from there. It's not too far away, so it would be a nice walk in spring, summer, and fall, but in the cold, windy weather we had yesterday it was not pleasant. The funniest part of the trek to and from the restaurant was his soda splashing him. I'm still not sure how it happened since the lid was on his soda cup, but as we were walking, it somehow splashed up onto him, getting on his face, his hand, his shirt...it was hilarious.

Before we left, the kids' mom called to let us know she was taking Z to the ER because he hadn't stopped coughing all afternoon. Thankfully it didn't end up being anything serious, but it was still a bit of a scare because he's had some serious breathing problems in the past. Since she was at the hospital with Z, we called a couple of times to check on the other kids and make sure everything was going okay there. H has strep throat so she stayed home from school yesterday, and when she talked to Mike earlier, she'd asked if I could call her. When I called, she started telling me that she'd seen Elf and how much she liked it. She also talked me through the stages of getting the dvd started, from taking it out of the box to starting the movie. That conversation was one of the best parts of yesterday.

When we finally made it home after a stop at the bank (for me) and one at EB Games (for Mike), we were greeted at the door by Maddy, who had gotten out of her kennel (they're supposed to be in separate kennels until we take them to the vet on Saturday to get their stitches removed) and was frantically bouncing around, waiting for us to get inside. Apparently when I put them in their kennels yesterday morning, I didn't make sure that all of the gates were shut, unintentionally giving her a day of freedom. Max, of course, was not thrilled about being stuck in her kennel while her sister frolicked around, so she was more than ready to get out by the time we got home. Luckily, the only casualties of Maddy being out were a chewed paper bag and notepad, and a nicely placed pile of poo, strategically located on two of my clean pairs of work pants. Between cleaning that up and cleaning out their litter boxes, I was tired of picking up shit by the time I went to bed.

Posted by oracle at 7:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 2, 2005

the Village

Mike and I finally watched the Village Sunday night. Everything I'd seen about it (previews, trailers, etc.) gave me the impression that it was some creepy horror flick, but that's not really what it was about. While I'm not a Joaquin Phoenix fan, I thought he was perfect as Lucius; I found myself liking the character and the scene where he and Ivy are talking on the porch is my favorite from the whole movie. The ending wasn't much of a surprise for me because Mike had mentioned something that gave me a general idea of where it was going to go, but I still enjoyed the movie and its premise. I'm very disappointed that it wasn't a horror flick though, because after watching some horror flicks with Mike (especially Saw and Ju-on), I've found myself really beginning to like the genre.

Posted by oracle at 10:26 AM | Comments (1)

oh my god, Becky

Snake's in the office today, and since it's suddenly smelling awful in here, I think it's safe to say he brought farts with him.

Posted by oracle at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2005

snow, home movies, and other assorted ramblings

I'm back at work, and while I'm happy about it from a paycheck perspective, I'm a little less-than thrilled otherwise. I haven't been sleeping well for the past couple of nights, and since I got up early this morning to work out with Mike, I'm feeling pretty rough right now. Don't get me wrong, it's a good feeling to already have a workout under my belt instead of hanging over my head for this afternoon/evening, but I feel like I could've used another 5 hours or so of sleep.

For what feels like the umpteenth time this month it's snowing, but that doesn't mean anything good for me unless the government closes early. While I'm not holding my breath, I am checking OPM's site frequently.

Last night, Mike and I had a great time watching some movies he'd taken of the kids a while ago. It was good to see bits and pieces of the kids' lives while they were younger, and after Mike and I talked for a bit, I realized how much I'm looking forward to watching them continue to grow up and the experiences that will come with that.

Posted by oracle at 9:42 AM | Comments (1)

February 26, 2005

lazy saturday

Mike and I had a lot of plans today, but somehow or another, they all fell through, leaving us with a nice, lazy day - something we haven't gotten many of recently. We got up and went to get our hair cut, but found out that we'd gotten the appointment time wrong; it was for 8:15, not 8:30. Since we were already up and out, we stopped by McDonalds for McGriddles (he likes sausage, egg, and cheese; I'm a bacon, egg, and cheese girl) before going home. Once we got home, Mike put in some time on the computer and I chilled with the puppies, then we took a long nap. We woke up a little after 2 and, after some quality time, decided to watch Ginger Snaps Back: the Beginning . It's nice to pretend you have no responsibilites once in a while.

Posted by oracle at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)

Ginger Snaps Back

Ginger Snaps is a series of werewolf movies that I'd never heard of until Mike read about them in Fangoria. I incorrectly figured that they'd suck since they're relatively low-profile, but they're a lot better than I expected them to be. We watched the second one (Ginger Snaps: Unleashed) last August, then watched the first one (Ginger Snaps) a couple months afterwards. Ginger Snaps Back: the Beginning has been out for a couple of months, but we just now got around to watching it. It was different from the first two and not as dark, but still a good werewolf movie. My favorite part was when they saw that one of the dead werewolves had a tattoo and a glass eye, just like one of the members of the missing boat crew. I hope they plan to keep making more of these movies because I'm really enjoying the series.

Posted by oracle at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2005

Gilmore Girls

Lately I haven't been watching Gilmore Girls as much as I used to, so I had a couple of episodes to catch up on when I finally had time to watch them. Then only thing that was really different from the norm was that Luke and Lorelai broke up, which means nothing to you if you don't watch or care about the show, but it meant a lot to me. Watching the way things played out between them was so much deja vu that I was sitting in bed talking to Lorelai, telling her that, yes, she needed to talk to him, but if she did it before he had sorted everything out and was ready to listen, it would just be bad. But she didn't listen to me. And I watched and cried as he told her their relationship was too much for him and walked away. Then I cried even more as I watched her fall apart afterwards because I knew just how she felt, every step of the way. I don't mind connecting with a tv show, but I'd rather not connect quite that much.

Posted by oracle at 9:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2005

Saw

A, Mike, and I watched Saw this afternoon. It was a very well-done movie - the story drew me in and kept us guessing (although Mike and A probably won't admit that), the acting was good for the most part, and there was just enough blood to make things creepy without overdoing things. It was intense at some points and confusing at others, but I really liked the way everything came together at the end and still left an opportunity for a sequel. I think I'm getting addicted to horror flicks.

Posted by oracle at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2005

Valentine's Day - 2005

This year's Valentine's Day was the best ever. Mike and I spent the day at home and he wrote me a poem. It was absolutely perfect.

Posted by oracle at 7:23 AM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2005

senility

As I mentioned yesterday, the puppykins were scheduled to sleep in their kennel last night so Mike and I could get a decent night's sleep for a change. They got a reprieve, but it wasn't becuase of looking pitiful and/or cute; it was because I'm losing my damn mind. When I went to bed, I forgot all about putting them in the kennel...until they woke me up at 2:38, that is. (Why is it that I can sleep through my alarm, yet a puppy yawn will wake me up?) I took them out, and we were back in bed by 2:44. By 2:46 they were fast asleep again, but I didn't get there till sometime after 3:25. I can't tell you the exact time, but that was the last time I looked at the clock until I woke up again at 4:04. It's a good thing that I woke up then, because Mike had forgotten to set his alarm. It's also a good thing today's Friday.

Posted by oracle at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

this goes out to all my baby mamas

MVV keeps his radio on when he's in the office, and since he turns it up so loud, the rest of my co-workers and I get to enjoy the music along with him. This wouldn't be so bad if the station had decent rotation, but they play the same songs every fucking hour. They just played N2U's song "Baby Mama Love", and I don't mind telling you that the thought of hearing 'b-a-b-y m-a-m-a' 8+ times a day does not leave me looking forward to the next couple of weeks.

Posted by oracle at 6:42 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

wiggly puppykins

I love the puppykins, but sometimes I wish they had less energy. I've found myself wishing this around 2 AM for the past two nights, and that is not usually a time I'm awake to see, much less make any wishes. The puppies have apparently decided that's a good time to hold their version of the Olympics on our backs which makes it a bit hard to sleep. Night before last Mike put them in their kennel, where they proceeded to play and squeak and make more of a commotion than they did while they were in bed with us. Last night I got up and took them out, then went back to bed, but that didn't help anything because I was still awake. Tonight they're sleeping in the kennel no matter how cute or pitiful they look, because if I don't get at least one night of uninterrupted sleep this week, I'm going to be unbearable by the weekend.

Posted by oracle at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 9, 2005

flat tires aren't always show-stoppers

Sure enough, once I'd calmed down a bit I was able to acknowledge that it wasn't a totally crappy day after all. In fact, aside from the one rough spot, it was pretty good overall. The good things from today:

• I went for a walk with my friend Pam on our lunch break for the second day in a row. Yesterday we just walked for 30 minutes, but today we did tricep dips, push-ups, and lunges on the benches outside one of the major buildings near where we work. While that normally would have embarrassed me to no end, Pam has a way of making embarrassing situations fun. We rode in a vanpool together when I first started working here and stayed friends after I left the vanpool. We haven't talked much in the past few months though, so I'm glad that we're doing things together again. The fact that it's exercise is just an added plus. The rest of this week is up in the air, but starting Monday, we're planning on making the lunchtime walks/workouts a regular thing. Fitness, ahoy.


• I made healthy food choices all day. I had 3 servings of fruit, 2 of veggies, and only a little bit of chocolate, which is a pretty major accomplishment for me. Miraculously, the Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream is still sitting untouched in the fridge. Also, instead of ordering pizza from Papa John's, I made my own out of 12-grain English muffins, spaghetti sauce, reduced-fat mozzarella, and black olives.


• I got to see Mike's clients' offices. He had to work late so I met him over at their offices (extra walking time = more exercise = a good thing, although painful for my toes) instead of waiting for him to come pick me up at my building after he was through.


• I finally installed the necessary software, so now I can download all the pictures I've been taking since I got my camera last Monday.


• One of the doxie pictures I bought came in the mail, and if finances permit, I'm going to look for a mat and frame for it this weekend.

There were more good things, but those are the highlights of the day that I can remember. I'm pretty tired right now though, so there are probably some things I've overlooked.

Posted by oracle at 8:51 PM | Comments (0)

perspective

I'm always amazed by how drastically your point of view can alter your perception of things. You can be having a great day and then something happens to upset you and all of a sudden the whole day sucks. Instead of looking at it as a speed bump in the day, it becomes a huge flat tire, overshadowing everything else until that's all that matters. I know I won't be as upset about the flat tire once I calm down and get less emotional, but as of right now, the afternoon sucks.

Posted by oracle at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)

a side note

I forgot to mention that in addition to Monday's checkup and allergy/asthma fun, I also had my cholesterol checked. The doctor seemed absolutely stunned that I hadn't ever had that done and insisted on doing a test while I was there. I gotta say, I was surprised that she thought I needed to have my cholesterol checked because, c'mon, I'm only 24. I found out last night that my dad has high cholesterol, and since that can be hereditary it's probably a good thing that I did get tested, but the doc didn't know about my dad so I still don't understand why she thought I needed it.

Anywho, before I got caught up in telling the backstory the point of this entry was to complain that I still have a mark and a bruise from where they took blood. If I get yanked in for a drug test because of that damn mark, I'm going to be pissed.

Posted by oracle at 9:01 AM | Comments (1)

the first BW3 Tuesday of '05

Report cards came out yesterday, and I am extremely proud of N. Over half of his grades were A's, and two of those he brought up from C's without any prompting from Mike or me. A and Z both made progress as well, which is very encouraging, and I'm proud of them too.

After we dropped the kids off at their mom's, Mike took me to dinner at BW3 and I tried some mild wings. At first they seemed really hot (they made my nose run, and you know how attractive that is, especially in a restaurant), but when I tried them again after eating some fries, they weren't as hot. They did taste pretty vinegary though, so I'm going to try a different flavor next time. (I really like the taste of their Caribbean jerk wings, but those are too hot for me right now; I'm going to have to gradually work my way up to eating more than one of those at a time.) All in all, we had a great time and even got some beads in honor of Fat Tuesday. Mike tried to refuse, but the waitress decided he should "rock some gold beads" so he wore them till I flashed him for them later. He's such a good sport.

Posted by oracle at 7:48 AM | Comments (0)

morning update

It's not even 7:45 and I've already taken calls from AWC and StB's wife. This does not bode well for the rest of the day.

Posted by oracle at 7:34 AM | Comments (0)

February 8, 2005

too many pills

The new meds my doctor gave me are a pain in the ass to take. Seriously, with them added to the rest of my pharmaceutical cocktail, it takes me about ten minutes just to get through the medicine part of my morning routine and it's not any better at night. If this gets to the point where taking my prescriptions takes longer than my showers, we're going to have a problem, Houston.

Posted by oracle at 8:30 PM | Comments (0)

asthma and allergies

I had yesterday off for a couple of doctor appointments, and it turned out to be a lot more than I bargained for. My first appointment was for my yearly checkup, but since it wasn't with my regular doctor, I had to go through the typical medical history questions. Well, I got my checkup, but based on my answers to the typical questions, the doctor determined that I have allergy-induced asthma and gave me a metric fuckton of prescriptions to try before I come back to see her in six weeks. I have a nose spray, an inhaler, and three meds to take, just for this. All the prescriptions she gave me today (except the nasal spray - I'm not sure about that one) are the same ones Z takes. All the boys thought that was pretty funny when Mike told them about it, so I'm going to be hearing "Got any (pick a prescription's name)?" for a while.

After I was through with that appointment, I had a couple hours to chill, then it was time to go to my first physical therapy appointment. The physical therapist I worked with was very nice and made certain that I understood what she was talking about and why the exercises she was going to have me do would help. She also told me that massage will probably be part of my therapy, which makes me feel a lot better about having to do this twice a week.

By the time I picked some stuff up from my parents' house and stopped to have my prescriptions filled, it was time to meet up with Mike and the boys and pick H up for ballet. After ballet, she and I did her homework and put together some shelves for her room till it was time to take the kids home, then Mike and I went back home and had a nice lazy night.

Posted by oracle at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)

full of grace

Friday was a pretty long day, but we finished it off with taco twists and a couple episodes of the newest Spider-Man cartoon, and that made it all better.

On Saturday I took the puppykins and went to see Karinne for the first time in, at least over a year. I haven't seen her daughter, rabbit, since she was a newborn, so it's probably been closer to two years. Crazy. Anyways, rabbit loved them and spent almost the entire visit squeaking "Doggies!" and chasing them or trying to feed them rocks ("doggie food!"). She was great with them, although I think they know how Happy feels about them now. It was good to hang out with Karinne again too; even though it's been forever since I saw her, it didn't feel like it when we were hanging. It was a really good time, aside from Max being carsick. Apparently she doesn't do too well on longish car trips. We'd been in the truck for about 15 minutes when she started horking, and the next thing I knew, I had a handful of puppy barf. Luckily I'd brought a blanket, so I put the puppies on it just in time for Max to barf again. She threw up three more times on the way home, so I was glad when I finally pulled up to our house.

When the kids' mom came to pick Happy up, it was obvious that she was glad to be going home. I finished Saturday off with a migraine, so Mike took care of dinner and showers and all that good stuff.

Sunday was pretty busy - H and I went to my parents' house, and she wanted to stay there instead of going shopping with me, so my brother and I went to run some errands. I bought a camera on Monday, so I was looking at cases for that and a couple other things. After hitting the grocery store, I dropped him off and picked H up, then we headed home. While I was unloading everything from the truck, I tripped on the steam cleaner's cord and landed on my hands and knees. It wasn't too graceful, and I have the bruises and sore shoulder to show for it.

This kids' mom asked if she could get the kids back a little early, and it was a quiet night after that. I watched last week's One Tree Hill, and about halfway through, Mike came upstairs and started watching with me. After watching the previews for next week's show, Mike said that we had to watch that one. It's not really his type of show, so that surprised me, but it's kind of neat to share a show with him again. We watched Deadwood while that was on, but since that's on hiatus, there hasn't really been anything that we both enjoy watching.

Posted by oracle at 6:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 4, 2005

trains, taxis, and near-tragedies; it's been a long week

So far the points worth mentioning (but not worth their own entry) about this week's commute have been:

• almost getting run over by a shiny yellow cab


• walking fast to and from the train. In the morning I had to walk quickly so I wouldn't be late for the train or work, then in the afternoon I had to hurry to get to the train and then to parking lot so I could get home sooner. I went out for lunch yesterday, and I hauled ass on my way to the cafe, but I didn't even realize I was walking that fast till I almost all the way there. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to walk normally again.


• shin splints. Walking as fast as I have been is not something my leg muscles are thrilled about. Neither are my feet, come to think about it. It'll be nice to relax over the weekend.


• the extremely fat woman that sat next to me on the way home yesterday, taking up at least 1/3 of my seat, and then had the nerve to glare at me when I fidgeted a couple of times. I'd just like to point out that she wouldn't have noticed if her massive body hadn't been squashed against mine from our shoulders to our knees. Cow.


• almost getting brains splattered on me. While waiting for the train yesterday morning, the guy on my left dropped his bag while a freight train was going by at what felt like 80 miles an hour. He bent down to get it, and the next thing I knew, the guy's head was just inches away from the train, and the guy on my right had stepped on the bag and was pushing the other guy's head back. If it hadn't been for him, the guy on my left would be minus a head, and I would've been covered in brains and still late for work. Although that's a very interesting reason for not coming in. Probably not one they've heard too often at this office, either.

I'm sure there are more highlights that I can't remember right now, so there may be an update to this entry later.

Posted by oracle at 1:48 PM | Comments (0)

the little engine that could

That little engine needs to give the early-morning commuter train a stern talking-to because the damn train was late again. It's been late 3 days out of 5, and that's not a very encouraging track record. I got to work a full hour late, and I'm lucky Supervisor is such an understanding person because leave without pay is not my favorite option ever.

Posted by oracle at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

February 3, 2005

reprieve

Aside from my irritation with COs, today hasn't been too bad so far. I woke up on time, got ready with enough time leftover to snuggle with Mike for a few minutes, and didn't even have to deal with frost on my windows. I did get stuck behind an abnormally slow person (driving a Ford, go figure) on the way to the train station. That turned out okay though because I still got there on time. The train was about 20 minutes late, but again, things turned out okay since I got to work only 10 minutes late. Also, dinner's already made for tonight so that's one less thing I have to worry about when I get home. It looks like I might have gotten a reprieve from Mike's shitty Thursday curse, but just to be on the safe side, I'm not going to get out the party hats till I get home.

Posted by oracle at 9:35 AM | Comments (0)

stupidity - part 3

I work in a contracting office, and part of my job is to distribute the procurement documents generated from our office. Yesterday I revised the cover sheet that the COs send with documents for distribution. Recently procurements have been funded from different accounting offices, but I have no way of knowing that if the COs don't tell me, so the appropriate accounting offices haven't been receiving their copy of the procurement documents. Thus yesterday's email informing the COs about the new distribution cover sheet:

>>> oracle 02/02/05 2:38 PM >>> In order to ensure proper distribution of procurement documents, please use the attached coversheet from now on. This is replacing the old coversheet, so please don't submit documents with that one anymore. Thanks.

I thought that was pretty straightforward and didn't anticipate any questions since the coversheet is very user-friendly, so imagine me surprise (and irritation) this morning when I got this email in reply:

>>> Contracting Officer 02/03/05 8:50 AM >>> Thanks, Kate. Just wondering, do you still want pay applications to come up with this cover sheet? Plus, how do we know who requires copies of each document (i.e., accounting office 1, accounting office 2, accounting office 3)? Can you give us more guidance?

Now how the hell am I supposed to give more guidance when the whole purpose of the cover sheet is for them to let me know who I should send copies to? If they, the people generating the procurement action and dealing directly with the respective accounting office(s), don't know who should get a copy, then there's no way I'm going to know that info either.

Posted by oracle at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 2, 2005

day three

It's been an interesting day so far. I forgot to set my alarm clock last night, so I overslept this morning. I woke up 20 minutes late, and given my lousy track record with waking up voluntarily, I'm lucky I didn't sleep any later than that. Anyways, I made it to the train on time, got to work at my usual-for-this-week time of 6:55, and am now wishing that it were Friday already. Snake is being an ass, the people on the phones are being obnoxious, and I've had three conversations with Annoying Wannabe Contractor. He asked to speak to Seminole the first time he called, and when I told him that he was in training this week, AWC then wanted to talk to MVV. After talking to him, he called back and asked to talk to Sarge, so I transferred him. Once he was through talking to her, he called back again to press me for more details about Seminole's whereabouts.

AWC: Is he at a job site?
me: No, he's in training.
AWC: Oh, right there in the next building?
me: I'm not sure where his training is being held.
AWC: Oh, so you don't know?
me: No, sir.
AWC: Okay, I'll leave him a message then.

Insert a huge eye roll here. I offered to transfer him to Semniole's voicemail the first time he called. The man is unbelievably obnoxious. It's none of his fucking business where the training is being held, and I hate it when people get pushy for details. If that was something Seminole wanted everyone to know, it'd be on his voicemail message.

On another phone-related rant, why don't people give out their personal line numbers to their spouses, friends, etc.? StB's wife calls no less than 5 times every morning, and then several more in the afternoon. Sarge's husband always calls the main line, as do the spouses, family members, and friends of several other people here. My thinking is that the main line is the number you give out for business-related calls, while the personal line is the number you give out for personal matters so the secretary, or whoever has to answer the phone, doesn't have to handle your personal calls on top of all the business calls that come in. Maybe that's just me though.

Posted by oracle at 8:21 AM | Comments (0)

fun stuff

I've been reading a lot lately, mostly fluffy romance books. The ones I really like are Nora Roberts' Chesapeake Bay and Key books. The characters are appealling, there's a nice balance between romance and actual storyline, and I like the warm fuzzy feeling they leave me with after I finish reading.

On the music side of things, I finally picked up the One Tree Hill soundtrack. I haven't listened to the whole album a lot because I've been stuck on a couple tracks, but it sounds like it was pretty well done. There seems to be a good mix of songs on there, which is something I wasn't certain was going to happen. It's nice to be wrong on some things.

Posted by oracle at 8:07 AM | Comments (0)

February 1, 2005

gossip whores

People at work really piss me off. Supervisor just told me that she has been asked if I've gotten a new job, and when she told them that it wasn't final yet because I was still doing the background work, they come back with "Well, she's going around telling everyone she has." This irritates me because I'm not telling people that for a couple of reasons. 1) The background work hasn't been finalized yet, so until that's done, I don't officially have the job. 2) I don't like anyone here well enough to tell them what I did over the weekend, much less what I'm doing, or trying to do, with my future. 3) Shit like this happens when you tell people things. They get a tidbit of news, spin this huge deal out of it, then claim that the person told them instead of saying, "Oops. Maybe I exaggerated a bit." If you're going to talk about me or say that I said something, then it'd better be right, otherwise, shut the fuck up.

Posted by oracle at 1:55 PM | Comments (0)

it's a choo-choo train

Day two of riding the train went much better than yesterday. This is partially because I know what to expect now, but also because the train was on time today. Not only was it not late and slow, the conductors handed out free ride passes to everyone that was on that train yesterday. I don't think I'll be using the pass anytime in the near future, but it's still nice to have around just in case.

Posted by oracle at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2005

ha!

Just got off the phone with a lady from the new job, and she told me that they're rushing my paperwork. Yay! I may be able to start that job before July after all.

Posted by oracle at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)

so long, farewell...

BofC's in now, so goodbye, fishbowl!

Posted by oracle at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

blah, blah, Monday, blah

Supervisor's out today, courtesy of the weekend's snow, so I'm in the fishbowl till BofC gets in. Unfortunately for me, she's going to be late because the schools for her county have a two-hour delay, again, thanks to the winter weather. The icing on this cake is that 007 is in training all week, so I'm the only admin person here right now. It feels like today should be a Thursday. It doesn't help any that I'm tired and cranky, either. I went to bed at a decent time last night, but it took me forever to fall asleep. Then, this morning I woke up before my alarm clock, stayed awake through the alarm, turned it off so it wouldn't wake Mike up, and fell back asleep. Why is it that when I want to stay awake, I get sleepy, but when I want to sleep, I'm bright-eyed? That's just wrong.

Posted by oracle at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

c'mon, ride the train

I took the train in this morning, and I am just now sitting down at my desk. I should've been here almost an hour ago, and I don't mind telling you, I'm pretty peeved. I'm annoyed about the delay, obviously, but even more than that, I'm annoyed at myself; if I had been better at managing my leave, I wouldn't be in this position. Looks like it's time for me to turn over a new leaf for this aspect of things too.

Posted by oracle at 7:36 AM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2005

back in action

My blog's back thanks to Mike, and in addition to the new location, the blog's getting a new look too.

Posted by oracle at 7:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2005

ray of light

Crap. Now I've got that stupid Madonna song in my head, even though it has nothing to with this entry. Bah.

The week isn't totally worthless after all. I just found out that I didn't have to use any leave on Wednesday because the government decided to give us three hours due to the snow. They did this an hour after I left, but it still applies to me, so I'm not going to complain. Also, rescheduling the appointment from yesterday worked out okay too since I was able to schedule it for a day I was already going to take off for a different appointment. And by the time those appointments get here, I'll have enough leave to cover taking the day off.

I talked to someone from the new job yesterday and was told that I'll probably be able to take my polygraph during the first week in Feb. That's not a guarantee, but it's more info than I had earlier, so no complaints about that either. I'm too busy being excited because I might actually get to start before summertime.

Posted by oracle at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)

nothing new, and that's the problem

Ever get the feeling that things are falling apart, but you don't know how or why, so you can't do anything to stop it...all you can do is watch it all fall down? That's this week. Today is day whatever of this nasty migraine, day whatever + 1 of crappy days, and day whatever x infinity of being tired. I'm starting to feel like there's no point whatsoever, because every time I open my mouth, I just make things worse.

We've got the weekend with the kids, so I'm looking forward to that. If it snows, that would be okay too because they're really looking forward to sledding, snowboarding, etc. I just don't want to miss work because of it, so as long as everything clears up by Monday, I'll be happy. Assuming we don't run out of toilet paper, that is.

Posted by oracle at 6:17 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2005

wow

Another Thursday totally sucked ass. Thursday is already well on its way to becoming my least favorite day of the week. I had an appointment today that I really was looking forward too, but couldn't go as scheduled because I threw out the prescription for it. Really smart, huh? Especially since I meticulously stapled the wrong prescription to the form, and carefully put it away so I'd have it ready. Not my best day ever. To be honest, today was barely worth getting out of bed for, which is even worse taking into consideration that I had a day off. I did get some stuff accomplished, but it wasn't a lot. The single bright spot was seeing the kids. If this trend keeps up, I'm going to look into making Thursdays a different day, or just skipping them altogether.

Posted by oracle at 6:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2005

oh, look. snow.

I hate snow. The only good thing that could come out of it is a missed day of work, but that's only going to happen if there's a shitload of snow because the government won't close for a couple of inches.

Posted by oracle at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

erp

Since I already have to take a scary number of pills every day (allergies, birth control, vitamins, etc.), I've been trying to avoid taking medicine unless absolutely necessary. I've had a vicious migraine since yesterday afternoon though, and staying home today wasn't an option, so there was no way around it. Seriously, the only reason I'm out of bed today is because of Relpax and Advil. Thankfully tomorrow is a holiday, although I'm not sure why Bush needs to be inaugurated again, seeing as how he's already in office. The government just doesn't make sense to me. Yes, I know, it's the government and all, but it would be nice if some of it was understandable.

Posted by oracle at 7:24 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

not a good way to start the day

"Okay, did we run out of stuff to wear today or what?" This is how one of my co-workers greeted me this morning. My response was a blank stare since I didn't know what the hell she was talking about, so she added, "This is the first time I've seen you in a skirt in a long time." Ah. Now I understand. Still, aren't there at least a couple of more polite, and comprehensible, ways to say the same thing without implying that I only do laundry once every month, if then? Also, occasionally I feel like wearing a skirt. I look nice in them, and that makes me happy. That's really all you need to know.

Posted by oracle at 6:45 AM | Comments (1)

January 17, 2005

surgery update

Mike's mom's surgery went fine. According to his siblings, she was stable when she went in, everything went as expected, and she's recovering pretty well. It was a pretty major surgery, so she's not going to bounce back overnight, but I hope that goes as smoothly as possible for her.

Posted by oracle at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2005

fuck thursdays

As of right now, I can only remember hearing one good thing today, which doesn't say much for the day, given that I've been awake for 14.12 hours. I didn't agree with Mike about Thursdays sucking ass, but today has changed my mind. So, fuck Thursdays.

Posted by oracle at 6:12 PM | Comments (1)

thursday

Mike's mom is having some pretty serious surgery today, so I've got that on my mind along with the usual mix of stuff. Any good thoughts y'all want to send her way are welcomed.

Posted by oracle at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2005

screw it

Today sucks. I was feeling good earlier because I was getting some stuff taken care of, but now...fuck it. I'm ready to pack up and go home. My shoulder's been hurting like a bitch all day, although hopefully that'll be coming to an end soon since I finally made a physical therapy appointment. In the meantime, I'm so tired and frustrated that I just don't feel like doing anything other than curling up in bed. Unfortunately, I have 6.5 hours before I can even think about it, so here I am.

Posted by oracle at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2005

headaches all around

H didn't go to ballet yesterday, so it was more relaxed than Mondays normally are for us. It was nice because Mike and I both weren't feeling too swell, but bad because the reason we didn't go to ballet was because H had a really bad headache too. Neither of us was comfortable with her going to class feeling that bad, so we all just went home. We gave her some Advil and put her on the couch so we could keep an eye on her. She feel asleep in about 10 minutes, and when we woke her to take the kids back to their mom's house, H said she was feeling much better. We stopped and picked up Popeye's after we dropped them off, then went home to begin cleaning out my postmaster's desk. We're giving it back to my parents because we mostly use it for storage and now we need the room for other stuff. I didn't realize how much junk I'd put in there, but between the two of us, we'd accumulated an 18-gallon container's worth, and that's excluding my two boxes of files. By tonight, the desk should be gone, along with three bookshelves, so we'll see how that affects space in our house.

Posted by oracle at 7:08 AM | Comments (1)

January 10, 2005

...and my birthday suit when I'm home alone

Snake: "Homegirl got a rack on her!"

Snake, 30 seconds later: "Homegirl got a rack on her."

Snake, 30 seconds after that: "007 must not had her glasses on, thinkin' this be a man, 'cause homegirl got a rack on her."

Seriously, dude? Shut up. I'm glad you can still appreciate a nice set of boobs, but I really don't want to hear your opinion about them once, much less three times with very little variation on the commentary. He is so skeezy.

Posted by oracle at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)

...a black suit at the funeral home...

Supervisor's car died on her over the weekend, so she's out today which means I'm in the fishbowl until BofC gets in. The phones haven't been bad so far, but I'm still hoping that she gets in on time, because I'm seriously dragging today and would rather not be up here for any longer than necessary. I'm tired almost to the point of drooling on myself, and that's something I try to avoid doing in public whenever possible. Only 45 more minutes...

Posted by oracle at 8:03 AM | Comments (0)

...a white suit when I'm gettin' divorced...

My brother is a starter for his school's varsity basketball team, and he's really gotten good this year. Unfortunately, Saturday was the first day I got to watch him play this season because of my class schedule, and now I'm really regretting the fact that I couldn't see make it to any of his games before then. They were playing the final game of a tournament, and although his team didn't win, they played hard. He told me that he was sorry I couldn't have seen him play the night before because, apparently they were on fire. He made 12 rebounds and scored 16 points, and I couldn't be prouder of him. N and A went with me for the first part of the game, then we had to leave to pick up H from one of her classmate's birthday parties. We made it back in the middle of the third quarter though. The team has a new coach, and he's really taken the time to work with my brother to motivate him to get better. It's worked too; my brother has put a lot of effort into improving his game this season, and it really shows. I yelled so much during the game that I was hoarse for the rest of the night, but it was worth it. I'm looking forward to the next home game.

Posted by oracle at 7:46 AM | Comments (0)

I rock a lawsuit when I'm going to court...

As I mentioned last night, I did some serious cooking over the weekend, and I'm pretty pleased with the way everything turned out, with the exception of Friday's dinner. (On Friday I made some "cheesy chicken" recipe that was okay, but not great.) Saturday I used my mom's recipe for beef stroganoff. I made a double batch which turned out so well that the kids wanted me to make a second batch right away. Good thing it's quick to make! By the time everyone had finished there was barely enough for two more servings. Yesterday I made a roast in the slow-cooker and it turned out even better than the last roast did. I love cooking.

Posted by oracle at 7:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 9, 2005

when the stars go blue

For some reason I'm bumming tonight. There's no reason for it - we just had a great weekend with the kids, I saw my brother play ball yesterday, I did some kick-ass cooking this weekend, etc. - but it's one of those days where I'm in a Ryan Adams mood. Not the "New York, New York" style RA, this is more a "When the Stars Go Blue" mood, although I have to say that, as much as I like his version of the song, I love the one from the One Tree Hill Soundtrack more. Speaking of OTH, I only have to wait one more week till they start back up with new episodes. Yay for guilty pleasures.

Posted by oracle at 6:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 7, 2005

seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game

I feel like I've gotten a lot done today, but looking back, I really haven't. But then again, I'm caught up on my work so there isn't a whole lot to do here right now. Normally I wouldn't mind, but today I'm so tired that it would be nice to have stuff to keep me busy so it wouldn't be easy to fall asleep. It's a damn good thing today's Friday.

Posted by oracle at 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

January 6, 2005

current events

I just uploaded all of my pictures to my gallery on the basement, so I'll be changing the links and picture pages to reflect that soon. Unfortunately, it won't be soon as in "sometime this morning" because I don't have the necessary program here at work. Reason #83 why I need a laptop, but I digress. This was the first time I'd uploaded pictures over there, which led to a couple of pictures being uploaded into the wrong galleries. Thankfully, Mike helped me out and removed them so my botched pics didn't stay there forever. He's so good to me.

In other news, the